Apple, Google fail to dismiss poaching lawsuit

Judge: Evidence suggests 'agreements resulted from collusion, and not from coincidence'

Published: 04/19/2012 at 7:07 PM

(REUTERS) — Apple Inc, Google Inc, Intel Corp and four other technology companies were ordered by a judge to face an antitrust lawsuit claiming they illegally conspired not to poach each other’s employees.

District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, rejected the companies’ bid to dismiss claims brought under the federal Sherman antitrust law and California’s own antitrust law, the Cartwright Act.

In a decision on Wednesday night, Koh said the existence of “Do Not Cold Call” agreements among various defendants “supports the plausible inference that the agreements were negotiated, reached, and policed at the highest levels” of the companies.